cpa exam secrets uncensored - s3.amazonaws.comexam+secrets.pdf · cpa exam secrets uncensored the...

CPA EXAM

SECRETS

UNCENSORED

The information in this report can

literally save you months of your life

by passing faster while studying less,

and making sure you pass on your

first try.

Nate Rivers

For more exam-crushing resources, visit www.superfastCPA.com

Contents Read This First .......................................................................................... 2

Why You Should Listen To Me ................................................................. 3

My First Attempt ...................................................................................... 5

Passing All 4 Exams In 3 Months .............................................................. 6

The 3 Reasons the CPA Exams Are So Difficult ........................................ 7

Study Techniques That Save Lots of Time ................................................ 9

CPA Exam Tips You Won’t Hear Anywhere Else ..................................... 11

Choosing a Review Course ..................................................................... 16

Don’t Forget To Do This… ....................................................................... 18


Read This First

Hi-

This little guide I’ve put together will help you pass faster and avoid re-

takes if you simply implement my advice.

As kind of a companion to this guide, I have a webinar that I run almost

daily where I go deeper into the tips and strategies for passing the

exams really fast.

DO THIS FIRST…

I give out my absolute best information on these webinars, so before

you jump into this guide, click here to pick a time that works for you,

and then make sure you attend the webinar live.

Click here to register for one of my webinars…

(If you’re wondering why I give my “best” info on the webinar and not in

this guide, it’s simply because there are a few concepts that are easier to

teach on a webinar instead of trying to write them out here.)

UPDATE: WANT FREE CPA FLASHCARDS?

I’VE NOW PUT TOGETHER 750+ FREE CPA FLASHCARDS THAT I’M GOING

TO GIVE TO YOU WHEN YOU ATTEND ONE OF MY WEBINARS.

NOTE: YOU HAVE TO BE ON THE WEBINAR LIVE TO GET THE CARDS.

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER FOR A WEBINAR…

http://www.superfastcpa.com/webinar




Why You Should Listen To Me My name is Nate, and I’ve been a CPA for a

couple of years now. I did a few years in public

accounting, but I now help CPA candidates like

yourself pass faster for a living.

The best part of my job is getting emails from

people who used my strategies and study

supplements to pass, either on their first try or

to just pass a section they had failed multiple

times.

So why listen to me?

To make a long story short, I have very average intelligence but I

figured out a series of “methods” that I used to pass all 4 exams in 3

months.

And anyone can use them to cut months off their CPA journey.

For the majority of CPA candidates, the CPA exams take anywhere from

8 months to 2 years or more to finish them all.

There are horror stories where people passed 3 sections and then had

all 3 lapse because they couldn’t finish the 4th, and then had to do them

all over again.

Or someone who has been taking CPA exams for 3-4 years and has

never passed any.

As my photo suggests, I’m a very average guy. Anyone can use my “methods” to pass the CPA exams faster than normal.

After ditching the “normal” way of studying and coming up

with my own methods, I was able to pass all 4 exams in 3

months. My techniques can save you a ton of time as well.


But… even taking an entire year to pass all 4 exams is incredibly

stressful and emotionally taxing.

The CPA exams quickly turn into an absolute nightmare for a lot of

people, and I don’t want that to happen to you.

In fact, with just a few small changes in how you approach things, you

can get radically different (faster) results than the average candidate

who is doing things the “normal” way.

So keep reading…

Remember: With just a few small changes, you can get

dramatically different results. And that’s the exact goal of

Superfast CPA - to help you pass faster by teaching you a

better way of doing things.


My First Attempt After I finished my Master’s degree, I had a few months until I started

my new job in public accounting. So my plan was to study really hard

for 3 months and then pass FAR before I started working.

So each day I would sit down, turn on a video lecture, and stare at the

screen. Then after having no idea what the person on screen was

talking about, I would realize after 10 or 15 minutes that I had

completely zoned out.

Then I would skim the chapter to try and get an idea of what was going

on. That never worked very well either, so then I would try to look

through some questions.

By the time I had gone through this process, 30-45 minutes had gone

by, and then I would start to feel overwhelmed, and because this had

happened the day before, and the day before that, before long I started

feeling really defeated and discouraged.

So I went through this process of stumbling through the lessons each

day, and after 3 longs months of it, my test day came around.

Once I saw the test in person, I knew I had made several big mistakes in

my study process. I had a feeling I was going to fail on that attempt, but

seeing the exam gave me several specific ideas for completely changing

how I studied. More on that later.

When my score finally came, it was a 74.


Passing All 4 Exams in 3 Months I was feeling pretty bad for myself after getting a 74, but seeing the

exam in person gave me several big “aha moments”. More on those in

a minute...

After enduring that 3 months of hell only to end up failing anyways, I

determined right then and there I was going to figure out a better way.

I refused to let the CPA exam process take up a year or more of my life.

One of the main things was that I knew my study methods had to

change. What I had been doing clearly didn’t work, and trying to get 3-4

hours in everyday while working full-time was too mentally draining.

I had scheduled all 4 exams at one time, and I really didn’t want to re-

schedule any just so I could re-take FAR. So, I just scheduled my FAR

retake a week apart from my AUD exam. My senior at work tried to

nicely tell me that it was idiotic and that I would just end up failing both

of them.

But… I was determined.

I had also completely changed the way I was studying. With my “new

way” of studying, I was blowing through lessons, studying less each day,

and I was more focused than ever because of it.

To make a long story short, by using my “new way” of studying, I ended

up passing all 4 sections all within 3 months.

And I firmly believe that YOU can implement some of my methods and

drastically reduce the time it takes you to pass all 4 exams.

“I refused to let the CPA exam process take up a year or more of my

life.”

Don’t let it happen to you either – it doesn’t have to take that long.


The 3 Reasons the CPA Exams Are So

Difficult The CPA exam process is widely considered to be the hardest

professional certification exam out there. This is debatable of course,

but many consider the CPA exams to be harder than the BAR exam for

attorneys, and harder than the state boards that new doctors have to

pass.

And the failure rates of 55%+ seem to support that.

There are 3 specific reasons the CPA exams are so difficult:

Reason #1: The amount of information you have to retain is immense.

For FAR and REG, there is an incredible amount of information to learn.

As you might have figured out already, it can be really overwhelming.

The other problem you run into is that you start forgetting the stuff you

learned in the beginning because it was 6 weeks and 20 lessons ago.

Reason #2: The “normal way” of studying isn’t effective for learning

that much information. Trying to “learn” the amount of information

required in a short period of time presents a lot of unique problems.

You get your review course and yes, the review course comes with

guidelines about how you should use all its resources, but doing it 100%

the way they recommend would take 10 years.

So, you spend some time watching the video lectures, skimming the

chapter, and then trying some questions. And maybe that doesn’t work

so well, so you try reading the chapter and highlighting the important

parts…. But then you still feel lost when you look at practice questions.

You go through a few weeks of this and you haven’t made any true

progress.


This was exactly how I spent my first 3 months studying just for one

section, and I still failed. After I started using my “Superfast”

techniques, I would only study 1-2 hours a day, but I would sit down

and had an exact study methodology to follow.

And of course, I got much better results that time around.

Reason #3: Real life is too busy to study 4-6 hours a day. You probably

work full-time. You probably have a spouse or a boyfriend or girlfriend

that you want to spent time with. Maybe you even have kids. Real life is

hard enough, but then trying to throw in 3 or 4 or 5 hours of CPA study

on top of it… day in and day out, is literally impossible for most people.

So what do you do about all these challenges?

I’ve got very good answers for them, and it’s what I’m going to walk you

through on my webinar.

This content is best suited for a live walk through, so make sure you

attend one.

Click here to grab a seat on the webinar…



Study Techniques That Save Lots of Time Do a “questions-first” approach. Do you really need to watch a 30

minute video lecture that explains the FASB framework? No… you just

need to memorize it.

That’s the case with a lot of topics on the CPA exam, but most

candidates have it in their heads that they need to soak up every piece

of information in their review course through the video lectures and

textbook chapters.

The fact is, you can learn a lot of the topics in 1/3 of the time by just

going through the multiple choice questions and reading the

explanations carefully. This is the main part of my “Superfast” approach

to study sessions, and I go into more detail on my webinars.

When you study, study. What this means is that most people press play

on a video lecture, and think “Ok… I’m studying”. But video lectures can

be a double-edged sword. They definitely have their place, but it’s

really easy to convince yourself that you’re studying when you’re not

really learning anything.

You most likely only have 1-2 hours a day of real study time. You cannot

afford to mess around on Facebook or Youtube during that time, or to

simply zone out during the video lecture. When I would study, I would

set a timer for 50 minutes, and I would actually say to myself, “Okay,

I’m not going to do anything for the next 50 minutes except actively

study CPA questions.” And by ‘actively’ I mean you sit up straight, you

take notes, you read the answers out loud to yourself- you’ve got to

spend that precious time each day getting the absolute most out of it.

Enjoy making progress. Wasting a study block kills motivation for the

next time.



Study at your best time. Are you a night owl? Morning person? This

might be cliché, but you really need to study when your brain works

best. For me, it was early in the morning. I just couldn’t focus at the

level required once I got home from work. So, I got up between 4 and 5

each morning and studied 2-3 hours before work. To reward myself for

getting up, I would stock the fridge with my favorite caffeine sources

(Monster drinks, Zipfizz, etc) so that getting up to study had some sort

of reward. And again… enjoy making progress and being productive.

Don’t think about how bad it sucks to study CPA material… instead

focus on all of the benefits that will come with being a CPA. For me, the

single idea of simply being done with exams was extremely motivating.

If you have to, go Tony Robbins style and write a goal/benefit

statement and read it every morning before you study.

A.B.S. (always be studying). This was my biggest key to success. I swore

off playing games on my phone and listening to music on the way to

work. Instead, I would read review notes on my phone every chance I

got, go over questions, and I would listen to audio notes in my car, on

the train, and while I was working out. I would even wear headphones

so that I could listen to audio notes every time I went golfing. Just think

about this: if you can add 1-2 hours a day of secondary study time

(listening to audio notes and/or reading review notes on your phone),

over 7-8 weeks that can be an additional 100 hours or more of

studying. That really adds up and you better believe that it will make a

big difference on test day.

Of course, I go more into detail on this and how to do it correctly on my

webinar, so make sure you register and attend.



CPA Exam Tips You Won’t Hear Anywhere

Else I’ve got a few extra tips for you that I just kind of learned on my own,

and some of them are the exact opposite of things you’ve been told.

Passing the CPA exams is a process that requires multiple elements, it is

NOT just a test that you study for and pass like you’re used to from

college.

Here’s some of the main elements required to pass:

“Don’t memorize questions”. This is something you hear about

practicing multiple-choice questions… that you don’t want to just

“memorize” questions by going through them so many times.

In my experience, memorizing questions is a good thing, and here’s

why: Most questions on the CPA exam will be so similar to ones you’ve

Time Management

Motivation

Study Methods

Intense Memorization

Perserverence


studied that you’ll know the answer as soon as you read the question.

This won’t be the case 100% of the time obviously, but in general, if

you’ve gone through MC questions so many times that you have a lot of

them memorized, it’s a huge advantage.

I’m not saying that you should start out trying to memorize questions

specifically- it should be a byproduct of having gone through them so

many times that you end up having a lot of them “memorized”.

Take FAR first. Do not fall for the advice of taking “one of the easy

ones” first to “get some momentum”. Getting momentum can be

stopped dead in its tracks by FAR or REG. Most people that have had

exams lapse is this exact scenario: they took AUD or BEC and then

couldn’t pass either FAR or REG in time. Even if the worst case scenario

happens and you fail FAR 5 times before you pass it, your 18-month

countdown is at least starting with the worst one out of the way. Don’t

do it the other way around.

Ideal Exam Order

FAR

Most difficult

REG

Hardest concepts

AUD

Overlaps with FAR

BEC

Least difficult

This is the "ideal" order, but the world won't break if you do it differently. Use your own personal judgement along with your personal situation and circumstances.


Take the steps to “create” your study time. I see this all the time: A

super busy candidate thinks that they’ll just “fit in” their study time to

their already hectic schedule somehow.

It doesn’t just work itself out like that. You have to actually take steps

to “create” your study time and make sure it happens each day and

stays uninterrupted. The #1 thing anyone can do to create time is to

wake up 1-2 hours earlier. This was my primary study time, and I

“rewarded” myself for getting up by keeping a full stock of my favorite

caffeinated beverages: Rockstar, Zipfizz… I even had some caffeine gum

I found on Amazon. If you want to use Ben and Jerry’s as your early

morning reward, DO IT. Do whatever works for you.

Where extra time is hiding

Wake up earlier

Commute before/after peak times

Find a babysitter and study at office

Use study supplements

on your smartphone

during breaks


Figure out how to motivate yourself. A very common question I get is

“how do I stay motivated?”

When you try to slog through months of daily CPA study, you find out

that motivation is a huge determining factor is passing the exams. But…

no one spends time actually trying to “motivate” themselves.

So how do you motivate yourself? You do it through “goal rewards”.

The easiest way to do this, is to think of a reward you’ll buy yourself

after you pass each section.

For example, my total reward for passing the CPA exams was going to

be new golf clubs.

So, after I passed FAR, I bought myself a really nice golf bag, and I set it

in my study room. I saw it every day and couldn’t help but dream about

how awesome brand new Mizuno clubs were going to look in it. Then

after I passed AUD, I bought a few boxes of the best golf balls on the

market, Titleist Pro V1s.

So I had them sitting there next to the new golf bag. You see where I’m

going with this? Whether you can break your reward into pieces like

this or not, you can at least gather pictures of what you’re going to buy

yourself and just look at them every morning before you study.

I had a picture of the new clubs I was going to buy and I looked at it

each morning in addition to drooling over the new golf bag.

Even if you can totally afford to just go out and buy whatever your

reward will be, that’s not the point. The point is to pick something you

really want, and absolutely forbid yourself from buying it, or its

components, until you’ve passed.


This method of self-motivation works extremely well. Also, just spend

time consciously thinking about how awesome it will be to have the

exams over with.

This alone was just as motivating to me as getting new golf clubs.

Spend actual time thinking about and imagining what it will be like

to be done with the CPA exams. This activity has REAL effects on

your brain and can help pull you through the daily study sessions

required to pass the CPA exams.


Choosing a Review Course I almost forgot about choosing a review course. I get asked all the time

what my opinion is on which review course is the best, so here’s my

rundown.

Without listening to me rant for 5 pages, I like CPAexcel the best for

one simple reason: your access never runs out until you pass.

Becker on the other hand costs $3,000 and you only have 18 months. If

that 18 months runs out, you either have to buy Becker again or you

have to buy another course. I personally know about 10 people that

have had that happen… 18 months goes by faster than you think.

But, if your firm is buying Becker for you, then of course go for that. The

info in Becker is fine… it’s solid, it’s reputable, and you can definitely

pass using it.

But, if you’re using your own money, definitely go with CPAexcel.

I also think that the actual content of CPAexcel is better and easier to

understand than Becker or the other major review courses.

If you want to read a full review I wrote about CPAexcel, click here:

http://www.accounting101.org/cpaexcel-review-course-in-depth-

review/

If you are spending your own money – or if your firm gives you the choice-

take my advice and go with CPAexcel. The material is just as good if not

better than Becker, and you get access until you pass. Nothing is worse

than something happening and your access for your review materials

running out after 18 months and having to spend another $2,000 -

$3,000.

http://www.superfastcpa.com/cpaexcel

http://www.accounting101.org/cpaexcel-review-course-in-depth-review/

http://www.accounting101.org/cpaexcel-review-course-in-depth-review/

http://www.superfastcpa.com/cpaexcel


Can’t I just buy some used books on eBay and save money? There

have probably been a few people in history that have successfully

passed doing that, but to me that just doesn’t make sense.

Having the CPA designation has such a high lifetime ROI, that doing it

right and giving yourself the best chances of getting it done quickly is

well-worth the small investment in real review materials.

The other big problem with that is that you’ll be using outdated

materials.


Don’t Forget To Do This… So if you haven’t yet, make sure you sign up for one of my webinars and

then attend it live.

You can sign up here…

On the webinar you’ll learn my easy

techniques for overcoming the 3

biggest challenges of the CPA

exams, and you’ll also get a free

digital copy of my CPA flashcards.

These flashcards cover all 4

sections, and there is over 750 of

them. All completely free as long as

you attend the webinar live.

The flashcards are customizable,

and you can add your own

flashcards to the decks, which I recommend you do, so that you end up

with flashcards tailored to your own trouble areas.

In summary:

Make sure to attend one of my webinars live to get my best info.

Take full responsibility for passing the CPA exams

If you are 100% dedicated and you study “smart”, you can pass

months faster than you think

Don’t ever waste study time. Always stay productive

Figure out a way to motivate yourself to hit your study goals day

in and day out

If you found this guide helpful, please go back to this page and “share”

it on Facebook with your CPA candidate friends and colleagues.

These flashcards are also customizable and you can add your own to these decks.



http://www.superfastcpa.com/thankyou/


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